Americans Most Dissatisfied with Country Health Care
System

One-third of Americans indicated they believe that
the American system “has so much wrong with it that we need
to completely rebuild it”, and half said they think that
“fundamental changes are needed to make it work better,”
according to research findings.
Among the other nine countries, those who believe they need
to completely rebuild their systems include 9% in The
Netherlands, 12% in Spain, 15% in France, 17% in New
Zealand, 18% in Australia, and 20% in Italy.

Only 12% of U.S. adults polled said the health care
system works pretty well and only minor changes are
needed to make it better.

The Netherlands’ health care system was the most
popular, with 42% of adults saying health care works well
and only minor changes are needed, and only 9% saying the
system needs to be completely rebuilt.

A Financial Times/Harris Poll conducted in June
among the five largest European countries also
found:

In Germany a large majority feel that “access
to health care in Germany depends on the patient’s
ability to pay for it”;

Among the other four European countries between
25% and 38% agree with this statement while about
half of all adults disagree;

Majorities of adults in France (70%) and
Britain (59%) reported their health care systems are
“the envy of the world”; and

Only minorities in Spain (38%), Germany (32%),
and Italy (20%) feel this way about their
systems.

The data for the ten-country comparison comes from
three different sources, published separately. The data
for France, Italy, Spain and Germany come from an
FT/Harris Poll conducted in June 2008 for the Financial
Times. The data for the United States and Great Britain
come from a Harris Interactive survey conducted for the
International Herald Tribune and France 24 in May 2008.
The data for The Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand and
Australia come from a Harris Interactive survey conducted
for The Commonwealth Fund between March and May
2007.

In every country just over 1,000 adults were
surveyed either by telephone or online.